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enThe Biotic Woman: The Dirty Politics of Coalhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/the-biotic-woman-the-dirty-politics-of-coal-ash
<p>Let's get something out of the way right now. My great grandpa, a mean, abusive old man named Everett, was a coal miner. So were other members of my family alongside and before him. (Everyone after him became a minister or worked for Ford in Detroit.) All the relatives on that side of my mother's family lived and worked in West Virginia for generations. I grew up hearing stories about how before grandpa was allowed inside the house, he had to change out of his coveralls in the side yard shed and hose off. He did not die of black lung, but even if he'd had it, he would have lived forever. Everyone in my family does.</p>
<p>Coal mining is a filthy business, and I have no nostalgia for the environmental havoc it wreaks. The damage to people working in coal processing is bad enough, but the larger environmental complications from leaking coal ash from landfills and retention ponds are seemingly incalculable. Working in equal disgusting parts, coal ash is made up of fly ash from chimneys and bottom ash from coal furnaces. Coal ash contains an incredible amount of toxic heavy metals like arsenic, lead, and mercury that cause serious health problems for adults and can lead to severe complications during pregnancy. For you pop culture junkies, fly ash also contains, among other horrific toxins, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexavalent_chromium">chromium VI</a>, that carcinogenic crap Erin Brockovich helped fight in real life, as documented in the movie bearing her name. Not surprising, these kinds of health issues affect some of the poorest people in the country—often folks without access to health care or without the option to pick up and move away from the affected areas. </p>
<p>Perhaps that's why I'm particularly offended when I see commercials like these:</p>
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General Electric has been promoting "clean coal" for years, with varying types of ridiculous ads aimed at making us think coal can not only be clean; it can be beautiful! Like a model in a coal mine!</p>
<p>Wrong. Here's a much more accurate set-up, brought to you by <a href="http://www.ThisIsReality.org/">ThisIsReality.org</a> and directed by the Coen Brothers.</p>
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Here's a reality check the next time someone wants to tell you about clean coal: They're still cleaning up the biggest fly ash spill in U.S., which occurred at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_Fossil_Plant_coal_fly_ash_slurry_spill">Kingston Fossil Plant</a> in December 2008. A dam holding back tons of slurry burst in the middle of the night, dumping more than a billion gallons of coal ash slurry into Tennessee River tributaries. The sludge leveled entire communities with a four-foot-deep layer of coal ash slurry and killed off an unbelievable number of fish living in the rivers. The spill has been said to be one hundred times as large as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill">Exxon Valdez oil spill</a> of 1989.</p>
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Despite this obvious example and well-known widespread problems coal ash spills can cause, West Virginia governor Joe Machin <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iFx6CLzSrbw_pH-_UF56jp0djYXwD9DU2SIG1">said last month</a> that the Environmental Protection Agency should halt plans to regulate coal ash as a hazardous material. Isn't it the governor's job to look out of his constituents, not advocate for policies that could harm them?</p>
<p>Last week, the <i>Christian Science Monitor</i> <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0224/Report-Contamination-from-coal-ash-waste-is-worse-than-EPA-says">reported</a> that contamination from coal ash waste is even worse than the EPA has expected. For anyone who has ever lived beyond city infrastructure, you know, for example, how harmful it is to have sludge contaminating your groundwater. CMS reports:<br />
<blockquote>"While the catastrophic spill at TVA's Kingston plant has become the poster child for the damage that coal ash can wreak, there are hundreds of leaking sites throughout the United States where the damage is deadly, but far less conspicuous," said Jeff Stant, who led the investigation for the Environmental Integrity Project, in a statement.</blockquote></p>
<p>I'm not sure which part of the coal mess is more upsetting: that so many people seem totally unaware of the ripple effects of coal mining or that elected officials work against efforts to protect some of the nation's poorest citizens from environmental hazards. </p>
<p><b><i>Further reading:</i></b></p>
<p><a href="http://www.unitedmountaindefense.org/">United Mountain Defense</a> (my personal fave, includes detailed info for contacting the EPA)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tennesseecoalashsurvivorsnetwork.com/">Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/21/AR2009122103312.html">Still unresolved, Tennessee coal-ash spill only one EPA hurdle</a>, <i>The Washington Post</i></p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/the-biotic-woman-the-dirty-politics-of-coal-ash#commentsadvertisingcancerclean coalcoal ashenvironmentalismEPAhealthminingpoliticspovertyThe Biotic Womantoxic wasteScienceTue, 02 Mar 2010 19:17:10 +0000Brittany Shoot2886 at http://bitchmagazine.orgThe Biotic Woman: What Natural Disaster Means for Chilean Womenhttp://bitchmagazine.org/post/the-biotic-woman-what-natural-disaster-means-for-chilean-women
<p>Chile has made a lot of progress since the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile_under_Pinochet#Human_rights_violations">brutal and repressive</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile_under_Pinochet">Pinochet era</a>. After electing their first female president, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Bachelet">Michelle Bachelet</a>, in 2006, women have <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/10/women-make-up-majority-of_n_185623.html">risen to power</a> as grassroots community organizers in record numbers. But Chile has one of the <a href="http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7281220">largest wage gaps</a> among South American nations, which has remained difficult to combat, even with a woman at the nation's helm.</p>
<p>Most of us know that when economic conditions are at their worst, rates of domestic violence also rise. Spousal and partner abuse in Chile is such a widespread problem that it warrants <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_violence_in_Chile">its own wikipedia entry</a>, and earlier this month, Chile's National Service for Women <a href="http://www.santiagotimes.cl/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=18229:chiles-womens-ministry-calls-for-harsher-measures-against-femicide&amp;catid=43:human-rights&amp;Itemid=39">called for stricter laws against femicide</a>—the murder of a female partner—than homicide, since many domestic disputes end in the death of the woman. See Chilean domestic violence PSA below:</p>
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Chile also has one of the highest abortion rates in Latin America, though appallingly enough, abortion is illegal thanks to a law enacted by Pinochet before he finally relinquished power in 1990. Chile is one of only four Latin American countries where <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/chile/090203/chiles-abortion-debate">any type of abortion is illegal</a>, even to save a woman's life. As you can imagine, the complications that crop up when basic health services are pushed underground are rampant in the country.</p>
<p>Unless you're in a self-imposed media blackout (and then, well, you wouldn't be reading this), you've likely seen photos and videos and heard reports about the devastating earthquake that rocked Chile's western coastline earlier this weekend. While other natural phenomenon occurred this week—Antarctica lost a chunk of iceberg roughly the size of Luxembourg, and tsunami alerts were in effect for nearly every island and coastal region touching the Pacific Ocean—Chile seems to have sustained the greatest media interest. Due to the time difference between my home in Denmark and Hawaii (nine hours), I even had the eerie experience of watching CNN report that evacuation alarms hadn't been sounded yet in Hawaii because they didn't want to cause chaotic panic at 2am. Yet, they believed the threat was eminent. Talk about bizarro broadcasting.</p>
<p>But with everyone talking about Chile and after receiving an email update from a friend who recently moved there to be with her girlfriend, what I began to consider was what was receiving considerably less attention: the ways natural disasters are often gendered, with women facing aid discrepancies at every step of the recovery process. Particularly in areas that are already impoverished, there are simply fewer opportunities to rebuild after a disaster. If women are already largely shut out of the more lucrative jobs, this continues the cycle of poverty. Women are often the ones overburdened with domestic responsibilities and largely responsible for caring for children and the elderly, which is also exacerbated by catastrophe. Often overlooked are reports of sexual violence following a disaster, but much like rape and sexual torture are weapons of war, they are also employed in the aftermath of disasters, connected with looting and other violent crime that rises during such unrest.</p>
<p>Natural disasters aren't avoidable, and the jury (at least a few of its members) is still out on just how strong the connections are between rising global temperatures and the rise in natural disasters. Still, it seems worth noting that doing our part to end, if not reverse, climate change is a solid strategy regardless of how many catastrophes it may or may not prevent.</p>
<p>It's my job to be here to write about the ways the environment and women's issues are inextricably connected, and the disaster in Chile is an unfortunate but perfect example of how these connections often go unrecognized by the mainstream media. Does environmental destruction affect women globally? In more ways than we can ever imagine. Will relief workers and those providing international assistance recognize the gendered needs of Chile's people in the earthquake aftermath? Sadly, I'm not holding my breath on that one.</p>
<p><b><i>Further reading:</i></b></p>
<p><a href="http://www.awid.org/eng/Issues-and-Analysis/Library/What-is-the-role-of-women-in-natural-disasters">Women are impacted differently than men by natural disasters and play a very important role in developing mitigation strategies by Janice Duddy</a>, AWID</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bridge-mag.com/magazine/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=517&amp;Itemid=3">Gender Aspects of Natural Disaster by Rebecca Pearl and Irene Dankelman</a>, The Bridge Magazine</p>
<p><a href="http://www.womenthrive.org/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=515&amp;Itemid=152">Women, Natural Disasters, and Reconstruction: An Overview</a>, Women Thrive Worldwide</p>
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/the-biotic-woman-what-natural-disaster-means-for-chilean-women#commentsChilegenderinternational aidmainstream medianatural disasterpovertySexual ViolenceThe Biotic Womanwomen's healthwomen's rightsSocial CommentaryMon, 01 Mar 2010 16:30:30 +0000Brittany Shoot2896 at http://bitchmagazine.org